Sinn Féin has said it will attend the reconvened Belfast Assembly on
May 15th with the purpose of forming a power sharing government.

On Thursday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and 26-County Taoiseach
Bertie Ahern announced, as expected, that the Assembly would be
recalled after a hiatus of over three years. The Assembly was given a
strict November deadline for an agreement between Sinn Féin and Ian
Paisley’s hardline unionist DUP before an alternative ‘Plan B’ for the
administration of the Six Counties is put in place jointly by the
Dublin and London governments.

Nationalists had expressed concerns that the November 24th deadline for
returning powers from London to Belfast could be drawn out indefinitely
to suit the wishes of unionists.

At the weekend, however, the British government confirmed that the
deadline would be defined in legislation after Easter.

Details on how the Assembly will operate, or who would act as presiding
officer, have yet to be finalised.

The assembly’s primary responsibility is to elect a first and deputy
first minister as soon as possible and to allocate ministerial posts
under the d’Hondt formula.

If members are unable to elect an executive within six weeks, there
will be a further 12-week period after a summer recess to try to form a
power-sharing cabinet.

This “interim” assembly will be urged to discuss issues such as
economic strategy, water rates and public administration, pending the
devolution of government functions.

But if there is no agreement on power-sharing by November 24th, then
the Assembly will be shut down and Assembly members’ wages finally
stopped. In a sharp change of direction for the peace process, some
kind of “partnership” role for Dublin in the affairs of the Six
Counties would then be created instead.

The DUP has cast doubt on the possibility of reaching any agreement
with Sinn Féin, but is faced with an apparent determination by the two
governments to end the stalemate over the implementation of the
eight-year-old Good Friday Agreement.

Bertie Ahern suggested at the weekend “there wasn’t a politician in the
world” who wouldn’t accept the prospect of power in the North as
offered in the proposals.

He repeated that the two governments would simply go ahead without the
northern parties if they did not form a government before the
deadline.

“We’ve laid out our plans. And I think all the parties should put all
their energies into implementing the plans. Nobody has threatened
anyone. The only thing that we’re saying is that it’s about time the
politicians in Northern Ireland got on with their job,” said the
Taoiseach.

“I mean they’re marginalised anyway. I mean the fact is politicians in
Northern Ireland have little say in what’s going on. They’re there,
they’re working, they’re paid, but they’re not in the mainstream.
They’re just marginalised people, their views are not taken much into
account by the NIO, the British government,” added Mr Ahern.

He went on: “We’re giving the opportunity to take full charge of the
Assembly, full charge of the Executive. Some of them will be ministers.
They will be running the whole shop. There’s not a politician in the
world would turn down that offer.”

Speaking during a meeting of the party’s Ard Chomhairle [leadership] on
Saturday, party president Gerry Adams MP said the decision to return to
Stormont had been taken after careful consideration.

Mr Adams said his party’s focus in taking part in the Assembly would be
the formation of a power sharing government on the basis set out in the
Good Friday Agreement.

“This also has to be the focus of the Irish and British governments,”
said Mr Adams.

“The DUP have to decide if they are prepared to join the rest of us in
a power sharing government. That is the inescapable question which they
must face. If they refuse to do so the two governments must deliver on
their commitment to jointly implement all other elements of the Good
Friday Agreement.

“In the coming days Sinn Féin will seek clarity and detail on the
accelerated all-Ireland co-operation and action that will replace the
Assembly if the DUP is not prepared to share power.”

It is expected that the joint governmental efforts will centre around
the areas of enhanced North-South cooperation, the human rights and
equality agenda and the British-Irish dimension.

It is being reported that meetings between Dublin and London officials
on this ‘Plan B’ will be stepped up and plans firmed up after the
summer if the restoration of the institutions in the North looks
unlikely.

Both sets of officials have insisted that the focus is currently on
‘Plan A’ -- a return of a power-sharing Ministerial Executive and the
institutions of the Good Friday Agreement.

It is clear that the threat of extension of Dublin’s influence and
authority over the Six Counties, which is central to Plan B, will
encourage the DUP to form a local administration with Sinn Féin.

However, British Direct Ruler Peter Hain suggested unionists ahould not
be too concerned about any change to the constitutional position of the
Six Counties if a deal cannot be achieved.

“There’s no question of joint government,” he declared in a BBC
interview. “That would be in contravention of the referendum that the
people of Northern Ireland voted on when they endorsed the Good Friday
Agreement.”

The first obstacle to be dealt with by the Assembly will surely be the
DUP’s continuing refusal to speak directly to Sinn Féin.

A speech by DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson in New York last Wednesday
night showed little evidence of willingness to make peaced.

“The question is not ‘Will the DUP work with Sinn Féin, if it operates
by exclusively democratic and peaceful means?’” Robinson said. “The
question is whether Sinn Féin can ever attain that status.”

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